As Christians, we view the Old Testament from the perspective of the New. We know Salvation was accomplished. The Messiah in the Person of Jesus Christ arrived some 2000 ago, fulfilling all Messianic prophecies to the letter.
What, however, was the understanding of an afterlife, in the Old Testament?
Resurrection – Release from Death’s Snare
There are certainly despairing statements contained in the Old Testament.
“I am counted with them that go down to the pit; I am as a man who has no strength, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand” (Ps. 88: 4-5).
“Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl. 9: 10).
Such statements tend to be a response to circumstance, rather than a reasoned analysis of the evidence for or against an afterlife. Continue reading
